


I Have A Good Feeling About This

by cailures



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Bad Ideas, F/M, Fluffy fluff fluff fluff, handmaidens and feudal lords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 03:53:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7829446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cailures/pseuds/cailures
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leia’s mother would have skinned her alive if she had been fidgeting during any state event. Even though it had been decades since Breha Organa had last chided Leia for anything, she still heard her mother’s voice whenever she needed to look regal in front of others. It meant any event in public made her miss Alderaan with an ache that nothing could fill, but it also meant she knew how to control her emotions under most circumstances.</p><p>Today was not most circumstances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Have A Good Feeling About This

**Author's Note:**

> For #8

Leia’s mother would have skinned her alive if she had been fidgeting during any state event. Even though it had been decades since Breha Organa had last chided Leia for anything, she still heard her mother’s voice whenever she needed to look regal in front of others. It meant any event in public made her miss Alderaan with an ache that nothing could fill, but it also meant she knew how to control her emotions under most circumstances.

Today was not most circumstances.

It had been six months since Chewie and R2 had left with the new Jedi, Rey, with Luke’s map in hand. In that time Luke had finally broken his years of silence, sent subspace signals from the watery planet he’d apparently made his home for the past year. “I’ve been looking for the children,” he’d explained then. “I’ve been finding the force-sensitive ones before Snoke could recruit or kill them.”

“I know,” she answered, because she always had. She’d never judged Luke for leaving. She’d known how driven he was to protect the children after what happened. She knew it was best that she, still untrained in the Force, never learned what happened to the children. It was too risky, and Luke and the children needed to be kept safe from Snoke’s manipulations. She’d never judged him for leaving, but it hadn’t helped with the loneliness while he was gone.

“I’ve missed you,” was all he’d said, but it had been enough. After what happened with Ben, they hadn’t needed a lot of words.

Now she waited and ignored the way her heart was breaking knowing Han was never going to come out of the Falcon, that he was never going to make her break every rule her mother ever set about behaving in public ever again. Instead, she focused on the idea of the first properly-trained Jedi since Ben— since the fall of Luke’s Jedi Temple. She hadn’t had much time to get to know Rey. She’d seemed a smart girl, with a good head on her shoulders and a steady mind. Certainly Finn hero-worshiped her, which spoke of her competence and her ingenuity. Leia imagined her to be a bit like Luke when they were young and naive and thought killing Vader had been enough. Solid. Serious.

The young woman who trotted down the gang-plank of the ship was clearly buzzing with energy, almost vibrating with excitement. She scanned the small crowd that had assembled to great the Falcon, clearly seeking—

“Rey!” Finn bolted from the assembled crowd, even as Poe reached out to stop him. She didn’t think Poe tried very hard, though. Finn had been moping around the Rebellion’s base since he’d woken up, and rumour was that the few times the pilots had gotten him drunk he’d gone on and on and _on_ about the girl from the desert who had saved him, saved BB-8, probably saved the entire Rebellion single-handedly and then abandoned him. Poe found it amusing and indulged him in it.

“Finn! Finn!” Rey met him half-way between the gang-plank and the crowd, pulling him into a tight hug. “I’ve missed you so much, they told me you were awake but—”

“I’ve missed you so much,” Finn echoed, “they told me you were learning things and I couldn’t—”

Quickly they were talking over each other, seemingly oblivious to the people around them and certainly oblivious to the mission they were going to have to go on soon enough. Leia forced herself not to smile fondly at them. Let the children enjoy themselves while they could. Certainly this battle would make them hard before too long.

Distracted by their reunion, she had barely noticed Luke following Rey at a more sedate pace, but he stood in front of her and it was all she could do not to throw herself into his arms. He stood at something approximating attention, as clearly aware of the gathered crowd as she was. “General Organa,” he said, nodding seriously.

“Master Luke,” she said, nodding just as seriously.

“I’ve brought your package,” he said, gesturing towards Rey. 

“I see that. Let’s get you debriefed and prepare for what’s to come. As for your package,” she looked over at where Finn and Rey were circling each other with excitement, hardly able to keep from falling into each other’s arms in their mutual admiration society. “Well. We’ll catch up with her after she’s had a few moments, shall we?”

Luke didn’t bother to hide his smile, but gestured for Leia to lead the way.

###

“And then,” Finn said, “Poe taught me how to fly one of those little Rebellion X-Wings, and we got into a space battle with a bunch of Tie-Fighters, and it was pretty scary because Tie-Fighter are always near some sort of base, but we found the base and managed to shut down the defenses long enough to get a bunch of supplies we needed to repair the ships, and Rey, Poe is amazing I can’t wait for you to get to know him better!”

“Of course you managed to defeat Tie-Fighters, you’re an amazing pilot!” Rey said, her voice shaking with excitement. “You need to teach me how to fly like Poe does. Oh my gosh, did I tell you in the letters that Master Luke has me practicing these amazing leaps and now I can get up really high with just the power of the Force and it feels a bit like I’m flying already and I can’t wait to show it to you!”

“That’s amazing, I can’t wait to see it!”

“Children,” Poe said, stepping between them. “As delighted as I am that you’re getting reacquainted, you’re both needed in the Situation Room.”

“Of course,” Rey said, distractedly. “But first can I tell Finn about—”

“You’ll have plenty of time to talk while you’re preparing for this mission—”

“Of course, Poe, but can I tell her about how we did that raid on—”

“It’ll keep until later.”

“But I need to tell him about—”

Poe put a hand over Rey’s mouth. “General Organa is waiting for you.”

Rey stopped, her eyes going wide, and Finn flushed with embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” Finn said. “Of course,” Rey said at the same time.

Poe considered, briefly, whether or not this idea was the stupidest plan he had ever come up with.

###

After what seemed like hours of being General Organa, Leader of the Rebellion, it was a huge relief to be in her quarters with just Luke, a bottle of Hestrian wine, and silence. She sat down hard on the couch, gesturing for Luke to join her as she uncorked the bottle. 

“Are we bothering with glasses, or is this more of a straight from the bottle sort of evening,” Luke asked.

“Glasses are for nerf-herders,” she muttered, taking a long swig from the bottle. “This night is for us.” 

Luke saluted her sardonically as he took the bottle from her hand. “To the future,” he said as he took his own swig.

“To the future, indeed.” She closed her eyes, let the liquor’s sharp taste burn down her throat. “Is this the worst plan we’ve ever come up with?”

“Of course not,” he said. “I once thought I could rescue you from the Death Star by being really, really clever.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” She grabbed the bottle back from him and took another drink. “This will probably work, too.”

“I keep imagining how much she would drive Master Yoda to distraction,” he said, settling back onto the couch next to her. “She lacks all discipline, likes to argue over everything we do, and is somehow convinced that the Jedi are actually masters of showmanship and display. She keeps wanting to… gesture dramatically whenever she does anything. She wants to wear a billowing cloak. It’s like the Jedi were myths and fairy tales to her, but she believed every word.”

“Yes,” Leia responded dryly as she handed him back the bottle and began to take down her hair. “You were, of course, not a master of the dramatics when you were young and new to all of this.”

“Of course not,” Luke protested. “I was the master of decorum.”

“‘I’m taking Captain Solo and his friends. You can either profit from it, or be destroyed. The choice is yours, but I warn you not to underestimate my power.’”

“She says, as though she didn’t strangle Jabba to death herself.” Luke took a very long drink from the bottle. “I hope you have more of these.”

“Being a General does have a few perks.”  She finally got the last of the braids untied and felt her whole body relax as her hair loosened. “I wish we could give them more time.”

“There’s never enough time,” Luke said quietly.

###

“Clearly you have to show me everything you can do, absolutely everything, so I can best impersonate a Jedi Knight,” Finn said as he led Rey by the hand through the Rebel base. “No surprises or anything.

“Of course,” Rey agreed quickly, reveling in the feeling of his hand in hers. Master Luke was many things, but physically affectionate he was not. Rey had learned to do without close touch back on Jakku, but this was much better. “You’re going to be amazing, though. It’ll be great. But we’ll have to work out some signals or something. Maybe key words?”

“Maybe key words and some hand gestures? In case we’re not able to use key words.”

“Oh, yes, what about blinking codes? In case we can’t make gestures or say anything. Or, what about hand signals for when we’re… you know,” she gestured towards his hand in hers.

“Yes!” Finn said, his face lighting up even more. “Exactly! That’s a great idea!”

“We’ll have so many codes, it’ll be amazing. It’s like having our own secret language!”

Finn opened the door to the small room he shared with Poe. “I love the idea of having a secret language with you,” he said as he turned on the lights.

Rey felt herself blushing. “Me, too,” she said. “Like we’re… we’re…”

“Family?”

“Yes,” she said, slowly. “Family. Yes, exactly.” Finn’s face looked flushed under the harsher light. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

“I’ve always wanted a family,” Finn said, sitting down in one of the three chairs the room boasted. “When I was… before, you know? Family was… it seemed important.”

Rey nodded as she slouched down onto the floor, leaning against the wall. “I know.” She took a deep breath. “My family’s never coming back for me,” she said, and the rush of joy she’d felt at seeing Finn ebbed away. “They’re probably dead.”

Finn reached out to take her hand again. “We’ll be family,” he said.

Rey squeezed his hand twice. “That sounds wonderful.”

###

Poe wasn’t sure what he’d expected when he returned to the room he shared with Finn several hours after the two had disappeared together, but it certainly wasn’t the two of them, fully dressed and sound asleep, in a pile of blankets and pillows on the floor. The room looked like a cyclone hit it. This struck him as appropriate.

He found another place to sleep for the night.

###

“I am the Great Jedi Knight Finn Starkiller,” Finn announced to the room, gestured widely. A cloak someone had found him billowed out around him as though a phantom wind surrounded only him. “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” he cried out in a booming voice as he began to float, shakily, above their heads.

“This is the worst idea you’ve ever had,” Leia said quietly to Poe. Rey was standing in the corner giggling as she made Finn float around the room. 

“Let them get it out of their system,” Finn said. “They’ll settle in a few days.”

Leia rubbed her temples. Of course she did not have a hangover. Generals didn’t get hangovers. “I hope you’re right, or we’re going to have to come up with another plan.”

“She can dress up as a stormtrooper and the two of them can infiltrate one of the Star Destroyers together,” he said quickly.

Leia snorted. “She is definitely too short to be a Stormtrooper.”

###

“Rey?”

“Yeah, Finn?”

“Do you think I could ever learn to really use the Force?” The two of them were curled up again in the cocoon they’d made in Finn and Poe’s room. Rey wasn’t sure where Poe was sleeping, which she felt guilty about, but it was very important that she and Finn spend as much time together as possible, learning each other’s secrets, so they could best pull of the deception that Finn was the new Jedi rather than Rey. They needed to be as closely attuned to each other as possible. They needed to be family.

“Master Luke says that the Force flows through everything and everyone,” she said. “Some people are more Force Sensitive than others, but the Force can be… I don’t know, hidden in them? Like, if they’re being hidden from detection somehow, their Force powers won’t properly manifest. They might end up suddenly realising they’re Force Sensitive much later than they would otherwise.”

“What does that mean?”

Rey shrugged. “I think he’s trying to explain why I couldn’t move things with my mind on Jakku, but sometimes I think Master Luke just makes shit up to sound more mysterious.” She wriggled around in their cocoon so she could look Finn in the eyes. “He said General Organa didn’t realise she was Force Sensitive until after she’d already been a Senator and a leader in the Rebellion for years. It took something really intense for her to understand what was happening.”

“Did he say what?”

Rey shook her head. “He doesn’t like to talk much. Chewie told me it was when Master Luke’s hand was cut off. Luke reached out for his family, and Leia felt it.”

“Oh.” Finn waited for a moment. “Can you… can you try and reach out for me?”

Rey suddenly felt nervous. “I don’t think— I’m not sure—”

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Finn said suddenly. “It’s a lot to ask—”

“No not that,” Rey said over him. “I’m just not very strong with the feelings part of the Force. It’s really difficult for me. The flashy stuff like lifting rocks and moving things with my mind is easy, but reading people’s thoughts and feelings….” She shook her head again. “It’s really hard for me. Otherwise we could just, you know, Force Bond or something and this would all be so much easier.”

“Well, don’t get your hand chopped off by Kylo Ren,” Finn said. “I like you having both your hands.” He reach through the blankets to grab hers, then cupped her face with his other hand. “Not that he stands a chance against you.”

Rey smiled, then curled back up against his broad chest and matched her breathing to his. “Between the two of us, we’re invincible.”

###

Instead of a cloak that billowed in its own wind, Finn wore plain black trousers and a purple shirt someone must have dug up for him. He stood up straight, then bowed deeply before Leia. “I am Jedi Knight Finn Starkiller,” he said, his voice serene.

“A Jedi?” Leia laughed. “Jedis are myths.”

Finn raised his eyebrow at Leia, and suddenly she felt her blaster pull out of its holster faster than she could stop it. Finn easily grabbed it out of the air. “Of course,” he said. “A myth. As you say.”

Behind him, Rey was grinning. The girl would need to learn to school her features better if she wanted to be the serene face of the Jedi Order. But then, Leia wasn’t certain Rey wanted to be the serene face of the Jedi Order. She suddenly thought of Vader, consumed by hatred and fear, and forced herself not to react. This girl was too filled with hope to follow Vader’s path.

“Much better,” Poe said, moving from his place against the wall. 

Finn turned to Poe, making a small gesture with his left hand. Poe suddenly started to drift toward the ceiling. Leia was impressed at how well he kept his balance, despite the sudden shift in gravity. He smiled and pirouetted in the air before Rey gently set him down again.

“You’ve certainly been working on your control,” Luke said to Rey.

Rey shrugged. “It’s easy here. I guess the real test will be out there.”

“Do you think you can do it?” 

Rey looked over at Finn, and Leia’s breath caught for a moment at the intensity of her gaze. “Of course,” she said. “Like my life depends on it.”

###

Two days later, Luke and Leia stood side-by-side as Finn, Rey, and Poe packed the last of their belongings into the shuttle Poe would pilot to the Paillettes System. There, the deception Finn and Rey had practiced would have to be enough to fool the Handmaidens that guarded their leaders and allow Rey to impersonate a Feudal Lord. The Pailettes were a matriarchal society, had insisted they wouldn’t meet with anyone unless they were properly accompanied by a Jedi. Jedi could not be a Feudal Lord, hence the deception. Leia was pretty certain that Finn and Rey could pull it off, together. Or, at least, she was certain that Poe could pull them out if it all went wrong.

“Were we ever that young?” Leia asked as Rey grinned and waved from the shuttle window.

“Not me,” said Luke. “I was born a mature, responsible Jedi Master, with all my wits about me.”

“Ah. Well then, it must have been me who was the rebellious one from the start, always refusing to take anything seriously.”

Luke reached out to touch her hand with his real one as the shuttle began to take off. She felt his empathy, his love, and his support through the Force. “They’ll be fine,” he reassured her. “I have a really good feeling about this.”


End file.
